Youth Climate Action Summit-2024

SD71- Comox Valley Invites you to join us at the

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Youth Climate Action Summit

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Meet our presenters:

Luke Wallace

Luke Wallace is a touring artist, activist and speaker who grew up in Vancouver / Musqueam Territory. His albums and performances offer music rooted in a deep love for the earth and humanity. He has been a long time activist speaking out in favour of protecting wild salmon, old growth forests and human rights. This path has taken him to perform at the United Nations in New York and some of Canada’s biggest folk festivals.

At our summit, Luke will be bringing facilitation that combines ecology, songwriting and singing to help ground participants in their experiences of the world today and distill our shared vision of the future.

Learn more about Luke Wallace and his music

Join us for a summit After Party in Cumberland to watch more of Luke Wallace – All youth attending the summit get discounted tickets!

Maya Willard-Stepan

Maya is a climate scientist and activist with a focus on human-environment interactions and renewable energy transitions. Originally from the Comox Valley, Maya holds a BSc in Climate Physics from McGill University and is currently pursuing an MSc in Energy Geography. Her interdisciplinary background spans collaborations with geomorphologists, ecologists, biologists, physicists, and engineers across six research groups. Maya’s work aims to bridge the gap between scientific research and practical solutions for climate resilience and sustainability.

Ulwiana Mehta-Malhotra

Ulwiana is a freshman at Claremont McKenna College, and a recent graduate from Mulgrave Secondary in Vancouver. She is passionate about taking environmental action to positively impact the mindsets of her generation and better the earth. She founded the ‘Clothing Conscious’ initiative, ‘Announcements for Climate Hope’ program, and Mulgrave Middle School Climate Action Club, sits on the Metro Vancouver Updated Solid Waste Advisory Committee, and is a TED-X speaker.

Announcements for Climate Hope,

Or ‘Hope4Climate’ was created by Ulwiana Mehta-Malhotra and Dr Elin Kelsey (Professor at the University of Victoria). It is a database of 150 positive, evidence-based climate news and action prompts, housed on the Door Number One website. Students are encouraged to use disseminate the news in this database through announcements over the PA system, at assembly, via email, infographics, or whatever other method works for them.

Clothing Conscious:

Engage your school in a Clothing Conscious initiative, embracing values of consciousness, circularity, and community. Educate student, teachers and parents to make the right choices on their next shopping trip.

After running the initiative in multiple facets and forms at her school she is mentoring and developing partnerships with passionate leaders at schools across the world.

Joanna Linger

Joanna is a teacher at Claremont Secondary, specializing in biology and environmental science. She is passionate about connecting students to both the environment and their community. For the past seven years, she has been teaching in Claremont’s Institute for Global Solutions program, where the program combines science and social studies in an interdisciplinary approach that helps students develop the skills needed to tackle some of the world’s greatest challenges, such as climate change. Joanna is deeply committed to exploring the interconnections between the environment, biodiversity, climate, and Indigenous wisdom, with a focus on hope and inspiring students to take meaningful action within their community. In addition to her work at Claremont, Joanna has taught cross-disciplinary methodology in the secondary education department at the University of Victoria and holds a Master’s degree in Leadership from Gonzaga University.

Summit Intention:

Recognizing that we are on the unceded and traditional land of the Pentlach, E’iksan, Sahtloot, and Sasitla people of the K’ómoks First Nations.

In this time of reconciliation, our shared purpose is to hold the space to grow and strengthen our youth’s hearts, empowering them with hope and agency for a more sustainable future. We hope to plant the seeds of a movement that extends far beyond the day of the event striving to ignite, rebuild, and feed the fire of passion and change.

Our focus is to walk alongside our youth fostering intergenerational knowledge through leadership and mentorship, helping them see themselves as leaders and agents of change by valuing the impact of their voices and actions. This conversation is essential, and we recognize our responsibility to support one another in our collective efforts to care for our natural world and the urgency to act now. Our intention is to carry on the knowledge from those before us and uphold this inspiration for those whom we are stewarding these lands into the future.

This Youth centered event will foster a spirit of inclusion and possibility of returning to the understanding that we are all interconnected. Through meaningful relationships we fuel passion for change and recognize our role in shaping a hopeful future together.

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